Diorama showing Native American life during the Middle Woodland Period, 2,500 BCE

The first known people in what is now called Dorchester arrived at least 10,000 years ago. Native people traveled between summer coastal fishing grounds and winter inland hunting areas leaving behind trails that have become Dorchester streets. Descendants of the early peoples, known as the Massachusett, used their resources collectively to ensure the land and the sea would sustain them.